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1 John 5:9-13
Easter 7B
North American culture struggles to define “life.” That shows up in some ways most visibly in our struggles to determine human life’s boundaries. Some of our most contentious debates about ethics, including abortion and euthanasia, revolve around just when human life begins and ends. So preachers might follow the Spirit’s guidance to explore with our…
1 John 5:1-6
Easter 6B
One of the first Christian songs I ever learned was “Trust and Obey.” Its chorus still echoes in my memory: “Trust and obey/, for there’s no other way/ To be happy in Jesus/ than to trust and obey.” This Sunday’s Epistolary Lesson strongly suggests that the song’s link between trusting and obeying would please the…
1 John 4:7-21
Easter 5B
The New Testament uses some form of the Greek word agape (“love”) more than 140 times to describe both God and humans’ actions. But in few places does the Spirit inspire its writers to link God’s love to God’s people’s love more closely than in this Sunday’s Epistolary Lesson. God’s dearly beloved people can hardly…
1 John 3:16-24
Easter 4B
Reading this Sunday’s Epistolary Lesson always seems to be a bit like trying to drink from a firehose. So many theological themes and images gush out of it that we may feel like we can swallow only a fraction of 1 John 3:16-24’s life-affirming truths. My colleagues Scott Hoezee and Stan Mast offer a wealth…
1 John 3:1-7
Easter 3B
Several years ago a colleague and I had a conversation about God’s adoption of God’s children. My colleague noted that human adoption is often a sort of mixed blessing. Among other things, it raises questions of identity. Is an adopted person the child of her birth parents or adopted parents? My colleague’s identity was clouded…
1 John 1:1-2:2
Easter 2B
The concept of “daylight savings time” is a rather strange one. After all, the label suggests to some people that by moving our clocks one hour ahead people can somehow “save” daylight. But, course, no human being can add even one more second of light to our days. When we move our clocks ahead, we…
1 John 5:9-13
Easter 7B
1 John’s “love letter” approaches its “landing strip” with this Sunday’s RCL Epistolary Lesson. Yet it may initially seem as if this “flight” is veering off course. After all, in a letter that John packs with calls to love God and our neighbor, this text emphasizes testimony. Of course, 1 John 5:9-13 is related to…
1 John 5:1-6
Easter 6B
My colleague Judith Jones suggests that the community to which John writes his first letter was facing a crisis. Some former members of the community were denying Jesus was actually the Messiah, God’s flesh and blood, fully human, fully divine Son. So John’s letters’ readers seemed to struggle with whom they should believe, how they…
1 John 4:7-21
Easter 5B
Contrary to the Beatles’ sung claims, all we “need” isn’t “love.” But the full-orbed, whole person love to which this Sunday’s Epistolary Lesson summons Jesus’ followers will go a very long way to meeting all sorts of “needs.” Jesus’ friends might call John’s first letter his “love letter.” That emphasis is, in fact, a theme…
1 John 3:16-24
Easter 4B
“Love” is a word everyone knows and everyone understands. Or so we think. But if that is so, why is it that when we are called to preach on “love,” it can feel so daunting? Maybe it’s because we use the same word for so many things. It would not be unusual, for instance, to…
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